Hécube, pas Hécube

Hécube, pas Hécube is a tragedy born between the lines of another tragedy, written directly onto the skin of the Comédie-Française actors. Tiago Rodrigues directs the story of Nadia, whose life unfolds between the theater stage and the courtroom floor. Nadia rehearses Hecuba (Euripides’ play) while fighting to ensure justice is served for her autistic son, who has been mistreated by the institution that took him in. As the play’s premiere and the verdict in the trial approach, the world around her is turned upside down. Nadia is not Hecuba, but her life is struck head-on by the legend of the former queen of Troy, who became a slave rebelling against her fate and who, facing Agamemnon, had to speak on behalf of her son.

The excerpts from Hecuba by Euripides featured in Tiago Rodrigues’s text are translated by Marie Delcourt-Curvers © Gallimard.